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You have a shadow and it controls you! Erik's theory on development

Anarkandi

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Erik's theory on cognitive functions, shadows and development

Hi. My name is Erik. Here's my theory on type development, shadow functions, and I would love your thoughts and theories too. I'll do my best to answer any question. I've been working on this for quite some time. My general goal is to empower people so that they can change the world and make it into a better place.

The biggest two issues of the MBTI right now is
Providing reliable systems of reading type
Find deviations within a type to understand more about what a configuration really is and what a type really is.

The MBTI has not been able to accomplish this. The biggest clues are fMri scanners, Nardi, Linda Behrens and Beebes eight function model. I have also been involved in visual typing systems through the currently closed project of Physiognomy.me and I can say I truly believe that a ”type” can be spotted through visually studying a subject, through video footage, I can read you and give you clues on how you've developed and how you could learn to use your abilities to your advantage, and I want to pass this on and get more people involved in this.

What unlocked me to all these theories is that I actually got the perspective to look detachedly and just see what I find and what it could mean. It showed me that I had read myself wrong – I am an ENFJ and not an INFJ like I had assumed through old reading manuals.

What are the configurations?

You know of the model of the dominant function, the auxilary function, the tertiary and the inferior. This is accurate, this is important, get down to it, learn the functions and what they are. In brief, I'd sum up the different functions as discernment (Fx and Tx) and perception (Nx and Sx) functions. One of these functions make out your core ”you” - who you are, the engine/the gas driving you forward. When this is in charge, you're in flow, you're charging forward and taking down mountains with you. Then you have your auxilary function. That's your helpful parent or steering wheel, going ”There, where are you going with all this?”

It is your compensating introverted or extroverted force in you. Kinda the key to solve all your problems. And really, most people have the most problems unlocking their auxilary, not their inferior function. You're starting off waaaaay too quickly. You need to know how to walk before you can bike. Or you'll be an ESFP who tries to look deeper all the time to be smart, but who doesn't truly value himself as he is, and as such more or less just derives pain from it. Let's go to the basics first.

The dominant function
The dominant function is kinda the emperor, and all other abilities are slaves to the emperor. In most people, the emperor rules through iron law, through divide and conquer. This is done by putting the tertiary at conflicts with the auxilary. The auxilary is more potent in the person than the tertiary, but whenever the person tries to access their auxilary they may struggle with two things

The dominant function tries to shut down the auxilary because it fears the auxilary will tell or make it do things to throw it out of it's power. For example, The Fe may fear that the Ni vision will cause it to lose touch with friends and connections or throw them out of their passionate state.
The tertiary function provides the escape route. It gives relief and it makes you revert to your natural state of behavior, for the INFJ for example, Thinking introverted strive for perfection and similar can keep you from interacting or pushing out with your Fe.

The dominant function is great – use it – but if your foot is on the gas but the hands away from the wheel, you are going to crash and it will not be pleasant.

But there's other mechanisms to keep you away.

The four shadow functions

Have been ignored for too long. Like they would make the image too complicated. Well, sorry to say it, but the image right now is shallow and does not fully explain or give people good ideas on how to grow.

The dominant shadow
When we're taught the MBTI we are taught you cannot change type and that you cannot be something you are not. This is accurate and important stuff. But as an ENFJ, to be told that your values are only derived from the outer worlds needs.. and to live by that.. is not healthy. And for an INFP to only live for themselves and not truly value others and see the value in others, that makes you self obsessed and hurts you alot.

We can say we only can be concious to four of the functions, but that's simply not true. There are levels to how concious a function within a type can be.

So for an INTP, your core is thinking introverted, and that's opposed by an extroverted thinking shadow fear in you. Thinking introverts value the objective data inside their head, they have this perfect idea in their mind, and they want to write it out to the external world and translate it to something real. But whenever you do, it never lives up to your expectations! It's never as perfect as it was in theory. The flaws hurt and bring alot of stress to the INTP. INTP's interacting with ENTJ's however, can often learn and start to value that, even if it is not fully perfect, it's still yielding results – you've gotten far on the way, you are getting there.

For the INTP, to access and flow better with themselves they need to deal with their subconcious luggage and fears and the core most important thing is to get rid of your shadows fears. Learn to value the objective data of the external world. Know in your heart that what you have in your mind is important and can be made into reality if you just put an effort into it.

Dealing with our subconcious shadows fear, frees us of the luggage and allows us to access more of our functions within ourselves.

The shadow auxilary

During a dream, I (ENFJ) saw myself in a room with a locked box of insight – answers I needed to find to an important question. It was though, guarded by my ENFP sister (in the shape of a witch) and the whole dream was full of the randomness and scary what-if questions of extroverted intuition. The cola bottles were full of goo. Everything was of. I felt a paranoia – what if x.. or x.. or x.. happens, and rather than opening or trying to open the box, I ran away, chased by the witch. I turned around and told her ”I WILL JUMP.” and she said. ”I will still have your body.”

I have had many witch dreams before and after this dream, and only recently figured out it's meaning. The shadow auxilary keeps me from unlocking my Ni insight. The shadow auxilary is basically the fear that shuts down our ability to conciously access our auxilary fully. In dealing with this fully, I returned to the box during meditation, and forced the box open, and soon found the insight flowing into me. Suddenly I noticed what my core was, and why I was afraid and what was inside. I got in touch with Ni and was able to detachedly look at myself and why I was the way I was. My configuration shifted, rather than being a mediocre developed ENFJ who was partially shutting out Ni from the picture, I developed into one which was able to conciously access it. And everybody could notice the change in me.

The inferior function
The step that follows is getting more in touch with your inferior function. The basic struggles people have with this is that it is not fully concious and takes more effort to access, and also that the spinning basically makes you get more in touch with your subconcious fears and abilities.

The way to access your functions in general is basically in order of activation, Fe – Ni – Se – Ti – Fi – Ne – Si – Te for the ENFJ that is. The further down, the more processing power it takes to access it. It naturally leaves us drained to rely on it too much. Especially with a mediocre configuration. So you're spinning in flow, in the zone, interacting and having fun with people, everything works like a charm for you. But you have this Fi voice in you saying you aren't genuine, you aren't real, you aren't worthy of true love, you gotta be more perfect so people will like you more. That is the pain you are feeling. It's your shadow functions and your problems in the past, all your issues showing up to say hello. If you have alot of them, it's natural they would throw you off.

The inferior though is important to access, for the INTP's Ti, the Fe becomes the sword, and the Ti the sharpness. If you're just sharp but unable to cut or translate your theories and ideas into reality, you're missing out on the second half of the discernment process. You've made a decision but you haven't made it real. For the ENTJ, that problem is on the other side, you've made a decision, but you haven't really thought it through fully so it may be inconsistent or simply far off the charts on ”wrong”.

The levels of configuration
Mediocre: Medium use of the dominant function, weak use or half-blind usage of the auxilary, tertiary mostly an escape mechanism and inferior mostly related to as painful or stressful.
Balanced: Strong use of the dominant function, good use of the auxilary, tertiary used to provide relief and relaxation when necessary, and inferior used to translate your core into something better.
Powerful: Off the charts amazing, and able to access the shadow functions to help them see the full side of an aspect and find their way out of a sticky situation. In a recent dream, I found myself transforming into the witch, suddenly I could see new possibilities I couldn't before, I noticed patterns in the dream and chased something through hidden doors I could gain access to. And you can access this and gain hold of your inner abilities and strengths – things you've previously remained unaware of.

So should I marry an ESFP? /ISTJ
If you love him/her, sure. o_O
Seriously though, under ideal circumstances, the mirror of your type is propably who you should be looking out for. But you can have fun with any type and you should use the system to understand and love all the gifts people bring.
 

Lady_X

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deliciousness for the brain. thank you.
 

highlander

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The biggest two issues of the MBTI right now is
Providing reliable systems of reading type
Find deviations within a type to understand more about what a configuration really is and what a type really is.


The MBTI has not been able to accomplish this. The biggest clues are fMri scanners, Nardi, Linda Behrens and Beebes eight function model. I have also been involved in visual typing systems through the currently closed project of Physiognomy.me and I can say I truly believe that a ”type” can be spotted through visually studying a subject, through video footage, I can read you and give you clues on how you've developed and how you could learn to use your abilities to your advantage, and I want to pass this on and get more people involved in this.

I believe the easiest way to assess a person's type is to look for evidence of cognitive functions. It's just understanding how to do that and then practicing. There was former member that got decent at this (not great but decent). He learned a lot about cognitive functions. Then he practiced - guessing people's types. He did it with his girlfriend. They could bounce thoughts off of each other. Skill = ability + knowledge + practice.

As far as derivations of types go, I like combining MBTI + Enneagram. The combination of those two things tell you a lot about a person. I don't know much about visual typing systems. Can you elaborate on that a little?

It is your compensating introverted or extroverted force in you. Kinda the key to solve all your problems. And really, most people have the most problems unlocking their auxilary, not their inferior function. You're starting off waaaaay too quickly. You need to know how to walk before you can bike. Or you'll be an ESFP who tries to look deeper all the time to be smart, but who doesn't truly value himself as he is, and as such more or less just derives pain from it. Let's go to the basics first.

Very much agree with you here. Auxiliary is the key because it provides balance. It's extremely important and the fact that you have developed it does not mean that you can't regress for a period of time where you aren't using it effectively.

This is done by putting the tertiary at conflicts with the auxilary. The auxilary is more potent in the person than the tertiary, but whenever the person tries to access their auxilary they may struggle with two things

The dominant function tries to shut down the auxilary because it fears the auxilary will tell or make it do things to throw it out of it's power. For example, The Fe may fear that the Ni vision will cause it to lose touch with friends and connections or throw them out of their passionate state.
The tertiary function provides the escape route. It gives relief and it makes you revert to your natural state of behavior, for the INFJ for example, Thinking introverted strive for perfection and similar can keep you from interacting or pushing out with your Fe.

I don't think the dominant function "fears" the auxiliary. It's not a person. It's just dominant - that's all. I also don't think of the tertiary as an escape route actually. I think of the auxiliary as the way back to balance.

The four shadow functions

Have been ignored for too long. Like they would make the image too complicated. Well, sorry to say it, but the image right now is shallow and does not fully explain or give people good ideas on how to grow.

The dominant shadow
When we're taught the MBTI we are taught you cannot change type and that you cannot be something you are not. This is accurate and important stuff. But as an ENFJ, to be told that your values are only derived from the outer worlds needs.. and to live by that.. is not healthy. And for an INFP to only live for themselves and not truly value others and see the value in others, that makes you self obsessed and hurts you alot.

We can say we only can be concious to four of the functions, but that's simply not true. There are levels to how concious a function within a type can be.


This is where I begin to disagree with you. Let me take Fi as an example. Fi does not mean that you only live for yourself. It means that you decide based on a set of values that are internal to you. I have my feelings and you have yours. That's what it means.

As far as the rest of your post goes, I guess this is a point of contention. I don't think we use those other four functions hardly at all let alone them being conscious. If I take Fe as an example, I can hardly even begin to imagine a person thinking like that. It's completely foreign to me. It was only through studying it that I began to understand this fundamental difference between people.
 

Anarkandi

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I believe the easiest way to assess a person's type is to look for evidence of cognitive functions. It's just understanding how to do that and then practicing. There was former member that got decent at this (not great but decent). He learned a lot about cognitive functions. Then he practiced - guessing people's types. He did it with his girlfriend. They could bounce thoughts off of each other. Skill = ability + knowledge + practice.

As far as derivations of types go, I like combining MBTI + Enneagram. The combination of those two things tell you a lot about a person. I don't know much about visual typing systems. Can you elaborate on that a little?
The enneagram is nice for personal growth, but bear in mind it is not much better than astrology, though what does that really say? Astrology can lead to immense growth aswell. It's just about what it means for you.

Visual typing systems basically mean that we study a persons appearance and behavior to read their core abilities and functioning. Read more at http://www.physiognomy.me (Reason we're closed is basically because of lack of investment of time) but it holds alot of good answers to how type correlates with behavior. I do a combination of everything. And I do read enneagrams as well as HSP and NPF's and other methods of operating.

For example, open up Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey footage and notice they do have alot of similarities in mannerisms. (ENFJ's)

Very much agree with you here. Auxiliary is the key because it provides balance. It's extremely important and the fact that you have developed it does not mean that you can't regress for a period of time where you aren't using it effectively.
Yeah. :)

I don't think the dominant function "fears" the auxiliary. It's not a person. It's just dominant - that's all. I also don't think of the tertiary as an escape route actually. I think of the auxiliary as the way back to balance.
It's a matter of wording. What is a "dominant" to you? To me it is our natural state and what we relate to as to "who we are" - the rest is just tools we use to help shape and guide it out. If you have a dominant, that means that this dominant trumfs all others. So what I'm saying with fear is that it would trumf out the aux if it felt the aux threathened the dom. So fear is an element to describe this.

This is where I begin to disagree with you. Let me take Fi as an example. Fi does not mean that you only live for yourself. It means that you decide based on a set of values that are internal to you. I have my feelings and you have yours. That's what it means.

As far as the rest of your post goes, I guess this is a point of contention. I don't think we use those other four functions hardly at all let alone them being conscious. If I take Fe as an example, I can hardly even begin to imagine a person thinking like that. It's completely foreign to me. It was only through studying it that I began to understand this fundamental difference between people.

You're just saying what you think, but you're not providing much to argue for your opinion. I don't say Fe-doms purely value the external world and not their own subjective emotions, what I say is that the best way to look at functional development is to look at how they interplay and how they don't interplay and this theory says Fe and Fi overlap and that a Fe-dom sometimes has a tendency to forget their own emotions and Fi-doms have a tendency to forget others. This should resonate with you, do you know any Fe or Fi doms? Take Ni doms then. Ni holds in their heart a great appreciation for the concept of the unknown, they detach, they look at an image from different angles and perspectives and they hold a visionary drive/independce of mind. Top this against an Ne-dom. They hold the gifts of open-mindedness, pattern-surfing, picking up different trends and seeing how things relate and tie together. Building new possibilities. Ni is a black hole, and Ne is a supernova, and for the Ni, there's basically this huge Ne fear that you can't have missed - a fear of "what if" trends, what if this X crazy scenario occurs.. excessive worrying.. Making the Ni drive plan even more to deal with all the eventualities that Ne can present them with. And the Ni mysticalities.. You're so different from people around you, and you feel a struggle with relating to and finding how you are alike and intertwined with others, you struggle with keeping an open mind because you are so strong in your vision that you block out alot of the things that could hurt you. That's the trends in Ni-doms who haven't fully mastered their abilities.. Would you say you recognize it?
 

highlander

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The enneagram is nice for personal growth, but bear in mind it is not much better than astrology, though what does that really say? Astrology can lead to immense growth aswell. It's just about what it means for you.

It's fun but astrology strikes me as fiction. How someone's birth date and time can have anything to do with a person's personality - it doesn't make any sense. Funny you should compare the two because I used to think of Enneagram like astrology. The thing is that's wrong. It's actually very good.

Visual typing systems basically mean that we study a persons appearance and behavior to read their core abilities and functioning. Read more at http://www.physiognomy.me (Reason we're closed is basically because of lack of investment of time) but it holds alot of good answers to how type correlates with behavior. I do a combination of everything. And I do read enneagrams as well as HSP and NPF's and other methods of operating.

For example, open up Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey footage and notice they do have alot of similarities in mannerisms. (ENFJ's)

Thanks - I will look at that link.

You're just saying what you think, but you're not providing much to argue for your opinion.

INTJs tend to do that.

I don't say Fe-doms purely value the external world and not their own subjective emotions, what I say is that the best way to look at functional development is to look at how they interplay and how they don't interplay and this theory says Fe and Fi overlap and that a Fe-dom sometimes has a tendency to forget their own emotions and Fi-doms have a tendency to forget others. This should resonate with you, do you know any Fe or Fi doms? Take Ni doms then. Ni holds in their heart a great appreciation for the concept of the unknown, they detach, they look at an image from different angles and perspectives and they hold a visionary drive/independce of mind. Top this against an Ne-dom. They hold the gifts of open-mindedness, pattern-surfing, picking up different trends and seeing how things relate and tie together. Building new possibilities. Ni is a black hole, and Ne is a supernova, and for the Ni, there's basically this huge Ne fear that you can't have missed - a fear of "what if" trends, what if this X crazy scenario occurs.. excessive worrying.. Making the Ni drive plan even more to deal with all the eventualities that Ne can present them with. And the Ni mysticalities.. You're so different from people around you, and you feel a struggle with relating to and finding how you are alike and intertwined with others, you struggle with keeping an open mind because you are so strong in your vision that you block out alot of the things that could hurt you. That's the trends in Ni-doms who haven't fully mastered their abilities.. Would you say you recognize it?

I have known Fi doms very well but mostly Fe aux and also Ne doms. The fear and worrying part you describe almost sounds like something else other than Ne - like Enneagram 6 or inferior Ni or something. Ni doms come across as having a less than open mind because of the visible Te but that's not actually right. We're dominant perceivers.
 

highlander

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Visual typing systems basically mean that we study a persons appearance and behavior to read their core abilities and functioning. Read more at http://www.physiognomy.me (Reason we're closed is basically because of lack of investment of time) but it holds alot of good answers to how type correlates with behavior. I do a combination of everything. And I do read enneagrams as well as HSP and NPF's and other methods of operating.

That is utterly fascinating. Good stuff.

Edit: if it works
 
Last edited:

UniqueMixture

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Woah woah woah back the train the fuck up. If the functions are correlated to synaptic response within particular brain regions I highly doubt those "specializations" if you will are a) equally distributed throughout the populace b) neatly distributed into little packets where the dominant function region is twice as large as that of the auxiliary and so forth lol. So, what evidence do you have for your beliefs and what kind of analysis have you done on the data you're referring to to come to the conclusions you've come to?
 

Anarkandi

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Woah woah woah back the train the fuck up. If the functions are correlated to synaptic response within particular brain regions I highly doubt those "specializations" if you will are a) equally distributed throughout the populace b) neatly distributed into little packets where the dominant function region is twice as large as that of the auxiliary and so forth lol. So, what evidence do you have for your beliefs and what kind of analysis have you done on the data you're referring to to come to the conclusions you've come to?

I am presenting a theory and the theory is the data in itself and as such you (the audience) and it's applicability will determine how useful it is. Regarding neuroscience:
It isn't neatly packaged, every persons brain is unique and Nardis idea that a particular brain region can be attributed to a special skill is far off wrong. Try googling for the map he presented, he didn't apply a source for it in his book, and it's not really accepted or empirically established, the regions. Basically - there's alot of wrong turns taken on this research, but the reason I still include him as interesting is that he is trying to find an empiric way of measuring type, and that he did find interesting patterns and correlations, and that actually shows that type does tell us something and that cognitive functions can be explained and understood empiricially. But no, a specific function cannot be attributed to a specific area, there are different ways to use Fe for example, many different ways to channel our skills leading to different neuorologica responses. But we can still talk about Fe, Fi, and jfc.

I have known Fi doms very well but mostly Fe aux and also Ne doms. The fear and worrying part you describe almost sounds like something else other than Ne - like Enneagram 6 or inferior Ni or something. Ni doms come across as having a less than open mind because of the visible Te but that's not actually right. We're dominant perceivers.

Glad you liked the page btw. :) Feel free to ask any questions on it. I might talk more about visual typing systems in future threads.

I generally try to hold the different systems apart, but yeah, Fi core issues generally are related to enneatype 4 and so on.

There are different forms of open-mindedness. See how you opened up this thread. Ni just as well as any type will rewise it's theories if they are proved inapplicable, but Ni takes more time to actually change it's mind than Ne. Ne is a faster process of change, Ni is a strong core system and changing one part in this core changes everything. So it takes more time to process and actually revise.
 
G

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Your analogies are fuckin' great and the idea that we ought to integrate and balance our 'shadow functions' can't be stressed enough.

I've always thought that, say, if one tends to derive his values from the external world too much, then perhaps he ought to correct for that. To say that we can't is just so limiting, man.

Will have to check out the physical and neuro type reading stuff later on. I'm usually skeptical of that stuff, but I'm still intrigued by it.
 

UniqueMixture

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I am presenting a theory and the theory is the data in itself and as such you (the audience) and it's applicability will determine how useful it is. Regarding neuroscience:
It isn't neatly packaged, every persons brain is unique and Nardis idea that a particular brain region can be attributed to a special skill is far off wrong. Try googling for the map he presented, he didn't apply a source for it in his book, and it's not really accepted or empirically established, the regions. Basically - there's alot of wrong turns taken on this research, but the reason I still include him as interesting is that he is trying to find an empiric way of measuring type, and that he did find interesting patterns and correlations, and that actually shows that type does tell us something and that cognitive functions can be explained and understood empiricially. But no, a specific function cannot be attributed to a specific area, there are different ways to use Fe for example, many different ways to channel our skills leading to different neuorologica responses. But we can still talk about Fe, Fi, and jfc.

So you're just outlining your own theory for mbti. Well, in that case how do you explain the use of functions which the individual does not have according to your model? For example, how does an INTJ use Ne or Fe? How do these functions to one another and to their four primary (?) functions? What causes the differentiation? How do you distinguish the use of one function from another in your model and empirically? Can these be described as emerging from the confluence of other factors? Also, a question. Let's say you take a video of someone who tests as ESFP how do you determine which facial expression, body posture, mannerism, tone of voice, movement, etc to be attributable to Se vs. to Fi? Where do Te and Ni fall in that mix?
 

1487610420

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Erik's theory on cognitive functions, shadows and development

Hi. My name is Erik. Here's my theory on type development, shadow functions, and I would love your thoughts and theories too. I'll do my best to answer any question. I've been working on this for quite some time. My general goal is to empower people so that they can change the world and make it into a better place.

The biggest two issues of the MBTI right now is
Providing reliable systems of reading type
Find deviations within a type to understand more about what a configuration really is and what a type really is.

The MBTI has not been able to accomplish this. The biggest clues are fMri scanners, Nardi, Linda Behrens and Beebes eight function model. I have also been involved in visual typing systems through the currently closed project of Physiognomy.me and I can say I truly believe that a ”type” can be spotted through visually studying a subject, through video footage, I can read you and give you clues on how you've developed and how you could learn to use your abilities to your advantage, and I want to pass this on and get more people involved in this.

What unlocked me to all these theories is that I actually got the perspective to look detachedly and just see what I find and what it could mean. It showed me that I had read myself wrong – I am an ENFJ and not an INFJ like I had assumed through old reading manuals.

What are the configurations?

You know of the model of the dominant function, the auxilary function, the tertiary and the inferior. This is accurate, this is important, get down to it, learn the functions and what they are. In brief, I'd sum up the different functions as discernment (Fx and Tx) and perception (Nx and Sx) functions. One of these functions make out your core ”you” - who you are, the engine/the gas driving you forward. When this is in charge, you're in flow, you're charging forward and taking down mountains with you. Then you have your auxilary function. That's your helpful parent or steering wheel, going ”There, where are you going with all this?”

It is your compensating introverted or extroverted force in you. Kinda the key to solve all your problems. And really, most people have the most problems unlocking their auxilary, not their inferior function. You're starting off waaaaay too quickly. You need to know how to walk before you can bike. Or you'll be an ESFP who tries to look deeper all the time to be smart, but who doesn't truly value himself as he is, and as such more or less just derives pain from it. Let's go to the basics first.

The dominant function
The dominant function is kinda the emperor, and all other abilities are slaves to the emperor. In most people, the emperor rules through iron law, through divide and conquer. This is done by putting the tertiary at conflicts with the auxilary. The auxilary is more potent in the person than the tertiary, but whenever the person tries to access their auxilary they may struggle with two things

The dominant function tries to shut down the auxilary because it fears the auxilary will tell or make it do things to throw it out of it's power. For example, The Fe may fear that the Ni vision will cause it to lose touch with friends and connections or throw them out of their passionate state.
The tertiary function provides the escape route. It gives relief and it makes you revert to your natural state of behavior, for the INFJ for example, Thinking introverted strive for perfection and similar can keep you from interacting or pushing out with your Fe.

The dominant function is great – use it – but if your foot is on the gas but the hands away from the wheel, you are going to crash and it will not be pleasant.

But there's other mechanisms to keep you away.

The four shadow functions

Have been ignored for too long. Like they would make the image too complicated. Well, sorry to say it, but the image right now is shallow and does not fully explain or give people good ideas on how to grow.

The dominant shadow
When we're taught the MBTI we are taught you cannot change type and that you cannot be something you are not. This is accurate and important stuff. But as an ENFJ, to be told that your values are only derived from the outer worlds needs.. and to live by that.. is not healthy. And for an INFP to only live for themselves and not truly value others and see the value in others, that makes you self obsessed and hurts you alot.

We can say we only can be concious to four of the functions, but that's simply not true. There are levels to how concious a function within a type can be.

So for an INTP, your core is thinking introverted, and that's opposed by an extroverted thinking shadow fear in you. Thinking introverts value the objective data inside their head, they have this perfect idea in their mind, and they want to write it out to the external world and translate it to something real. But whenever you do, it never lives up to your expectations! It's never as perfect as it was in theory. The flaws hurt and bring alot of stress to the INTP. INTP's interacting with ENTJ's however, can often learn and start to value that, even if it is not fully perfect, it's still yielding results – you've gotten far on the way, you are getting there.

For the INTP, to access and flow better with themselves they need to deal with their subconcious luggage and fears and the core most important thing is to get rid of your shadows fears. Learn to value the objective data of the external world. Know in your heart that what you have in your mind is important and can be made into reality if you just put an effort into it.

Dealing with our subconcious shadows fear, frees us of the luggage and allows us to access more of our functions within ourselves.

The shadow auxilary

During a dream, I (ENFJ) saw myself in a room with a locked box of insight – answers I needed to find to an important question. It was though, guarded by my ENFP sister (in the shape of a witch) and the whole dream was full of the randomness and scary what-if questions of extroverted intuition. The cola bottles were full of goo. Everything was of. I felt a paranoia – what if x.. or x.. or x.. happens, and rather than opening or trying to open the box, I ran away, chased by the witch. I turned around and told her ”I WILL JUMP.” and she said. ”I will still have your body.”

I have had many witch dreams before and after this dream, and only recently figured out it's meaning. The shadow auxilary keeps me from unlocking my Ni insight. The shadow auxilary is basically the fear that shuts down our ability to conciously access our auxilary fully. In dealing with this fully, I returned to the box during meditation, and forced the box open, and soon found the insight flowing into me. Suddenly I noticed what my core was, and why I was afraid and what was inside. I got in touch with Ni and was able to detachedly look at myself and why I was the way I was. My configuration shifted, rather than being a mediocre developed ENFJ who was partially shutting out Ni from the picture, I developed into one which was able to conciously access it. And everybody could notice the change in me.

The inferior function
The step that follows is getting more in touch with your inferior function. The basic struggles people have with this is that it is not fully concious and takes more effort to access, and also that the spinning basically makes you get more in touch with your subconcious fears and abilities.

The way to access your functions in general is basically in order of activation, Fe – Ni – Se – Ti – Fi – Ne – Si – Te for the ENFJ that is. The further down, the more processing power it takes to access it. It naturally leaves us drained to rely on it too much. Especially with a mediocre configuration. So you're spinning in flow, in the zone, interacting and having fun with people, everything works like a charm for you. But you have this Fi voice in you saying you aren't genuine, you aren't real, you aren't worthy of true love, you gotta be more perfect so people will like you more. That is the pain you are feeling. It's your shadow functions and your problems in the past, all your issues showing up to say hello. If you have alot of them, it's natural they would throw you off.

The inferior though is important to access, for the INTP's Ti, the Fe becomes the sword, and the Ti the sharpness. If you're just sharp but unable to cut or translate your theories and ideas into reality, you're missing out on the second half of the discernment process. You've made a decision but you haven't made it real. For the ENTJ, that problem is on the other side, you've made a decision, but you haven't really thought it through fully so it may be inconsistent or simply far off the charts on ”wrong”.

The levels of configuration
Mediocre: Medium use of the dominant function, weak use or half-blind usage of the auxilary, tertiary mostly an escape mechanism and inferior mostly related to as painful or stressful.
Balanced: Strong use of the dominant function, good use of the auxilary, tertiary used to provide relief and relaxation when necessary, and inferior used to translate your core into something better.
Powerful: Off the charts amazing, and able to access the shadow functions to help them see the full side of an aspect and find their way out of a sticky situation. In a recent dream, I found myself transforming into the witch, suddenly I could see new possibilities I couldn't before, I noticed patterns in the dream and chased something through hidden doors I could gain access to. And you can access this and gain hold of your inner abilities and strengths – things you've previously remained unaware of.

So should I marry an ESFP? /ISTJ
If you love him/her, sure. o_O
Seriously though, under ideal circumstances, the mirror of your type is propably who you should be looking out for. But you can have fun with any type and you should use the system to understand and love all the gifts people bring.


oh, a new (?) typology theory. :coffee:

 

Anarkandi

New member
Joined
Sep 1, 2012
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MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
3w2
So you're just outlining your own theory for mbti. Well, in that case how do you explain the use of functions which the individual does not have according to your model? For example, how does an INTJ use Ne or Fe? How do these functions to one another and to their four primary (?) functions? What causes the differentiation? How do you distinguish the use of one function from another in your model and empirically? Can these be described as emerging from the confluence of other factors? Also, a question. Let's say you take a video of someone who tests as ESFP how do you determine which facial expression, body posture, mannerism, tone of voice, movement, etc to be attributable to Se vs. to Fi? Where do Te and Ni fall in that mix?

Good question. The real thing is: You don't use Ne as an INTJ. But if you look at what Ne does it very much presents you with a lesson and an important value that you should make your own, such as, you should not worry about Ne consequences as an Ni, you should trust your Ni will lead you correctly, and you should also acknowledge that the possibilities and changes in the world are good and inspire you to grow, even if, as an INTJ, or even worse, as an ISTJ, it isn't a part of your conciously available arsenal, it is a part of who you are as a whole, and ignoring the shadow grants it a degree of control over you in the form of fears, worries and pain.

I look for the cognitive functions visually in pairs - so se - ni fi - te. There's a jungle, you can learn more about it at the page, but basically, for an ESFP I would look at if the person is a discernment or perception lead first, does the eyes direct the face, is the eyes the most central quality of the person, or do the eyes compass/deadpan alot, is the face very animated? If so - discernment. I would look at interviews of Michael Jackson (ISFP) and compare with say robert pattison, cameron diaz.
 
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